|
|
|
Health-Care
Reform And Medical Education
Shaun
Kerry, M.D.
Diplomate,
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
The process of becoming a
doctor does not start in high school. In
fact, there is very little coursework at the college
level that is designed to prepare an individual for
medical practice; there is no college "medical" major.
Many
students intent upon becoming a physician
will major in biology or chemistry, but medical
schools do not hesitate to accept applicants
who have excelled in any other academic area
of study. Regardless, a majority of things
learned at the undergraduate level has no relevance
to the practice of medicine.
|
 |
 |
After
college and upon acceptance to a program,
the would-be doctor enrolls at a four-year medical
school. Upon graduation, he is awarded the doctor of
medicine degree: the M.D.
In
the first year of medical school, students
cover the basic sciences, including
anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology. For
students who have studied science at the undergraduate
level, these courses are largely a duplication
of material already covered, however, much
of what was learned in college is no longer
remembered. There is a huge amount of
factual information to be memorized, and as
a result, most of it is soon forgotten - much
like in college - after the tests.
The
second year of medical school - containing
a similarly large volume of
factual information - is devoted to the study
of disease and medication. Practically
the entire focus of the curriculum is dedicated
to life threatening diseases, with essentially
no emphasis on either nutrition or many of
the seriously debilitating 'garden variety'
illnesses frequently encountered by doctors.
Like
all other medical students, I spent my third
year of school at a teaching
hospital. Approximately 65% of the diseases
that I saw were severe liver and lung conditions;
the result of smoking and alcohol abuse. Students
assisted in surgery, delivered babies, and
managed out-of-control cases of diabetes. The
most common conditions that cause people to
seek medical attention, however, were neglected.
|
|
 |
|
The
fourth year is a continuation of the hospital
clinical experience, and includes work in orthopedics
and pediatrics at other specialty hospitals. After
graduation, most doctors complete their residency, which
is an additional four years spent in the supervised practice
of their medical specialty at a hospital.
|
| By
today's standards, the educational process of becoming
a physician is
extremely arduous and expensive, taking twelve or more
years, and costing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although
the student is taught by literally hundreds of physicians,
most of whom freely donate their time as a purely charitable
gesture, the majority of the student's medical studies
take the familiar form: memorize, pass-the-test, and forget. The
process is so inefficient that most of what is learned
- even relevant information - is forgotten by the time
it is over.
The
universe contains an inexhaustible volume of
information, and to attempt
rote memorization of
even a small fraction of that volume is an
extremely burdensome task. Furthermore,
it is impossible to predict what one will need
to know in the future. Granted, we need
to have a general understanding of how the
real world works.
If
handled properly, without the dry details, students
- seeing the relevance
of such information - will be far more likely
to retain what they are learning. Beyond
this general understanding, students should be
given the freedom to explore their own interests
without the constraint of rigid requirements. Furthermore,
the world of academics should be considered in
cooperation with the non-academic world, offering
bridges to that realm rather than posing roadblocks.
PRINTABLE PAGE | BACK | TOP | NEXT | PRINTABLE SITE
|
|
|
